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Friday residential fire started by illegal burning

By Michael S. Lee

Of The Commercial Staff

A residential fire that destroyed a home at 511 S. Apple St. on Friday afternoon was caused when the homeowner attempted to burn brush in his yard and the fire got out of hand, according to Pine Bluff Fire and Emergency Services Chief Shauwn Howell.

“He had a permit to burn but he didn’t know there was a burn ban in effect,” Howell said. “He was issued a warning for burning during a burn ban.”

Howell said two separate calls came in to the department at 1:49 p.m. Friday; one from Fifth Avenue and Apple Street and the other from 13th Avenue and Apple Street.

“Sixth Avenue is the dividing line between districts so initially we had quite a few trucks responding to the fire,” Howell said. “Once we determined where the fire was we called the out-of-district trucks back to station.”

Howell said the fire took approximately an hour to bring under control and that between 12 and 15 personnel were involved in fighting it.